2 Modeling
Definition: Demonstration of a skill, behaviour, or process to increase student understanding and ability to perform.
Rationale: Students sometimes have difficulty understanding what is expected in a task or response. Demonstration of the task by an adult or peer, often following a task analysis, can help to highlight the appropriate steps needed to complete it.
Ways to Support Students:
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- Modeling can be used separately or in conjunction with visual supports and verbal instruction.
- Modeling can be used for a full task or small steps within a multi-step task.
- It can be helpful to use the same or similar materials when modeling the task.
- Sometimes it can be helpful to use exaggeration when modeling to highlight specific steps or tasks that the student is having difficulty with.
- Modeling may sometimes be followed by mirrored practice- when the student echoes the activity of the model.
- Modeling can be live and in person or video recorded (i.e., video modeling)
Case Study
Student: Grade three student
Content: Solving addition problems by hand
Problem: The student is having difficulty remembering each step of the addition task analysis.
Solution: The teacher pairs the student with a classmate to model using the task analysis with a sample addition problem. This helps the student see each step in action and increase their understanding of each step in the sequence.
Professional Resources:
- Definition and video exemplars of modeling from the University of Louisville: https://louisville.edu/education/abri/primarylevel/modeling/autism_msd
- Evidenced-based practice brief on video modeling from NPDC on ASD: https://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/sites/autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/VideoModeling_Complete.pdf
- Research article comparing modeling, prompting, and a multi-component intervention: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6269383/
- Video on use of video modeling from DADD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2hMtQ5N8io
